Kitten Troubles
by kenco-coffee
Summary: Bester x female Uri! Now comes with Kittens! Xanxus x Gokudera; slowly getting there. Quite a bit of swearing. And mischievous kittens. I take casual year long hiatus'. Be warned.
1. Let it begin

**Story title: **Kitten Troubles

**Story author: **Me

**Now listening to: **Lady Gaga

**Anime / Manga: **Katekyo Hitman Reborn

**Disclaimer: **I do not own this anime, or the characters. The only thing I own is the story I wrote myself based on this anime.

**A little warning: **Bester x Uri, although you won't be reading about that. A little Xanxus x Gokudera too, 'cause I've always wanted to write that!

In this fanfiction, let's assume Uri is a female please. It'll help my story. Plus, I'm not sticking to exact story line otherwise this story wouldn't be able to work. Please, just read and enjoy.

"Uri?" the male's voice echoed around the hidden base as he ran down every corridor where he knew he'd find his cat. Any other day and he wouldn't have minded the fact that his pet had wandered off, but he'd noticed that lately Uri had been putting on weight. Heck, even Yamamoto had noticed, and if even a baseball idiot could notice something like that then it was serious. He hadn't taken Uri to the doctor's though and placed her gained weight down to a poor diet, which he had tried and failed to correct, and now he blamed himself for her disappearance that afternoon. _Why hadn't he given her a bell and made life easy for himself?_ Although one thing confused him about her weight gain; she had been acting particularly restless that morning. She hadn't been able to decide on which room to stay in and would continually leave and enter.

The male paused as he stood by a door, his beautiful green eyes looking ahead of him before he turned to look behind him. It had been lunchtime, and Uri never missed an opportunity to eat and for once Gokudera was willing to allow the cat to put on as much weight as it wanted so long as it would turn up. A sigh left his lips as he opened the door to the kitchen and walked inside, his eyes glancing at the corridor behind him. Inside the kitchen, the other guardians were cleaning up after lunch. No, that was a lie.

Yamamoto and Gokudera's beloved boss were cleaning up. Mukuro and Hibari watched while Ryohei tried to put spare plates away with his energised sprit, however the plates cracked in his grasp. Over on the other table were the six Varia guardians; Tsuna had summoned them for a meeting over missions and the situations in Italy and they had demanded to be fed as soon as Yamamoto had mentioned lunch.

"VOI! Where have you been?" Gokudera's attention was stolen as the other silver-haired male yelled at him. The right hand man gave him a glare in return and ignored his question, turning instead to his boss.

"Jyuudaime… I can't find Uri anywhere," Gokudera told him, his eyes glancing around the kitchen for a glance of the golden-white furred tail or a glint of those red eyes the cat possessed.

"You should take better care of her," Yamamoto stepped still drying the cup from the bubbles from cleaning.

"I do take care of her, you freakin' Idiot! If you're so smart, then where is she?" Gokudera's short fuse was lit, and his angry voice filled the kitchen easily.

"Gokudera-Kun! Yelling won't get us anywhere," Tsuna stepped in, not wanting his subordinates to fight in front of the Varia. After all, the Vongola had to set an example… right? "Did you check _everywhere_? I mean, even the rooms that are normally locked. Uri may have found a way into the piano room or something?"

The three-quarters Italian looked at his boss as he took in what he said, and allowed a smile to fall upon his lips, "I haven't checked there yet Jyuudaime, but I shall right now."

"Do you need us to help you?" Yamamoto asked with his casual smile, finding it difficult to not offer to help his friend.

"Do whatever you want; I need to go. Please, excuse me Jyuudaime!" Gokudera reached into his pocket as he left the room, leaving the door open behind him as he took out his set of keys. _Bike key… car key… house key… ah, piano room!_ He held onto the room's key so he wouldn't lose it again, turning down the corridors until he reached the room. He stood outside, listening carefully, hoping to hear a sound from inside. A small meow caused him to hurry and open the door; _Just why would Uri meow like that??_

The Piano Room was almost empty, except for the couch along one wall and the piano in the middle. The room was warm, as Gokudera only spent most of his time in the room during the winter. As if drawn to it, Gokudera made his way to the middle and placed a hand on his piano before he looked around the room. A box sat in a corner of the room, which Gokudera used to keep his sheet music in, not requiring anything more. A shuffling noise came from the box, and the male hesitated before he walked forward. He moved slowly, hearing another small meow, which confused him just as much as Uri's sudden weight gain.

"Uri?" Gokudera called out before he approached the box, kneeling down next to it slowly. He took a deep breath before he leaned forward to look inside. His mouth dropped at the contents of the box, and he didn't know whether he should be happy or to be angry that his sheet music had been ripped to shreds and destroyed.

His hand reached for his pocket and he took out his mobile, pressing the speed dial button to his boss' mobile. He kept his eyes on the box while the phone rang. "Jyuudaime… could you please come down here and bring a blanket… don't bring any loud people… you know, the Idiot… okay, thanks." His conversation was quick; Gokudera never liked to have quick conversations with his boss but he knew it was important that this _surprise _was well cared for.

It was five minutes before the Piano Room's door opened, and Gokudera looked up as each of the Vongola and Varia members walked in. The right hand man put a finger to his lips before reaching to take the blanket from Tsuna and turned his attention back to Uri.

"She gave birth…?" Yamamoto blinked in surprise as he leaned over Gokudera to look inside the box.

"Be quiet. Don't speak." Gokudera's reply was quick and snappy as he put the blanket in the box, carefully moving the kittens and his cat to keep them warm.

"Well, she's lost weight in such an extreme way," Ryohei now looked to the kittens, ignoring the storm guardian's order.

"Kufufu~ Who's the father?" Mukuro asked and Gokudera turned to see that even the Varia had gathered around the box. It was a similar scene to a pack of children learning how candy canes were made. Gokudera's green eyes blinked at his question as he returned to the kittens. He looked for markings on each, all of whom looked mostly like their mother. One had a ginger smudge mark above its nose, another had a left ginger ear and the other a right white ear, and another was a mirrored version of the second. One had tell-tale stripe marks across its body in a tiger-like way while the final kitten only had stripe marks around its tail.

"Well, how many cats do we know with stripes?" Gokudera asked out-loud. For a moment, none of the males spoke.

Belphegor was the one to break the silence, "Ishishi… there's always Bester."

"What?" Gokudera forgot his own rule to keep his voice down, "There's no way Uri would do such a thing with Bester!"

"Got any other ideas then?" Mukuro asked, "Bester **is** the only feline we know with stripes…"

"Che," Gokudera's green eyes looked up to the Varia leader who had sat on the couch on the other side of the room, his eyes glaring daggers, "Keep Bester away from Uri." He growled, making no effort to show how much he hated the idea that Uri had been mated with the white hybrid.

"Who are you to tell me what to do?" Xanxus demanded, returning Gokudera's harsh glare, "They're animals, what the hell did you expect from them, Bastard."

"Don't you dare…!" Gokudera opened his mouth to yell at him but Yamamoto acted fast, placing his hand over the storm guardian's mouth.

"No yelling, remember?" He told him, counting to five before taking his hand away. Defeated, Gokudera returned to the kittens.

"Gokudera-Kun," Tsuna spoke, and Gokudera glanced to him to show he was listening, "I think it would be best if you slept in this room for a few weeks until the kittens are old enough to leave Uri. You need to be here to care for them."

"I understand, Jyuudaime," Gokudera nodded. Originally, his idea had been to place a monitor with them and continue to use his own bed, but he'd never dreamed of disobeying his boss, "I'll do that."

"Xanxus should stay here too," Tsuna commented, looking to the Varia guardian.

"What the hell? Why the hell should I?"

"These are your grandchildren as much as they are Gokudera-Kun's –"

" – Grandchildren?! Jyuudaime! –"

" – Therefore it is your responsibility to stay here and look after them too."

"Jyuudaime, please! I am against staying with such an obnoxious person!" Gokudera knelt on his knees, putting his hands together as if in prayer as he begged, "The last thing I want is to be stuck in here with him!"

"I'm sorry Gokudera, but working with someone else will do you some good you know? Give it a go… We'll leave you alone for now with Xanxus and the kittens but we'll come back with bedding."

"Jyuudaime, please reconsider."

"Sorry, Gokudera-Kun, but that's my final decision."

Gokudera had remained with the kittens during the rest of the day, leaving them only to eat dinner with the rest of the guardians and Varia. He was surprised at how small the kittens were in comparison to their mother, _and quite cute_ he smiled to himself, knowing that no one else would know he thought that. But then a question came to mind; what would happen once they were old enough to leave Uri? He felt like he couldn't just hand them over to anyone. After all, they were his _grandchildren_.

"We'll have to check the genders too," He told himself as he checked the time. Biting back a yawn as he registered it was nearly ten at night, he made his way to the couch, which had been pulled out into a double bed. Two pillows and two quilts had been placed upon it; at least Tsuna had allowed them to have a quilt each. Gokudera couldn't even imagine sharing a quilt with Xanxus.

"You talking to yourself?" Said person walked into the room, looking just as annoyed with the situation as the right hand man himself.

"Doesn't matter," Gokudera replied, taking off his black jacket, "I'm going to sleep."

"You're on the outside," Xanxus told him, kicking off his shoes before he walked over to the bed.

"What?"

"I'm not sleeping on the outside where you can kick me off the fucking bed!"

"So you'll kick me off the bed instead? Bastard!" Both males lunged at the bed to secure their sleeping place, but Xanxus beat the other by a mere margin.

"I'm next to the wall, Bastard," He kicked out at the other and sent him backwards, the silver-haired's back colliding with the piano with a thud, "Now that was a nice note just then."

"Don't mess with me!" Gokudera stood up, preparing to attack the other when a small meow came from the box, "You stay there. I'll go see what it is… after all, you don't really care do you?" The storm guardian spat before walking over to the kittens.

"Don't tell me what I am!" Xanxus yelled after him as he settled in his bed, turning over to point his back at the other. With a 'hmph', Gokudera ignored him, although worry settled in his mind.Just how would he survive with _Him_?

A/N

Oh goodness, it's been AGES since I've wrote a fanfiction.

Right, I've got a few chapters plans for this story to progress.  
However; should I skip straight to the kittens being given to their new owners after… how many weeks are needed or would you like a little story between Xanxus and Gokudera? Your choice guys. Please do review and comment!

Comments are loved!


	2. Piano playing

**Story title: **Kitten Troubles

**Story author: **Me

**Now listening to: **iTunes on Random

**Anime / Manga: **Katekyo Hitman Reborn

**Disclaimer: **I do not own this anime, or the characters. The only thing I own is the story I wrote myself based on this anime.

**A little warning: **Bester x Uri, although you won't be reading about that. A little Xanxus x Gokudera too, 'cause I've always wanted to write that!

I know the category is humour, but this chapter won't be so much humour. From Chapter 3 onwards, I'll be adding more humour though, so do not fear.

Soft silver hair nuzzled the pillow as the Storm Guardian dreamt of success and proving his worth to his boss. His arms were curled around the corner of his quilt as something hit his back. His dreaming mind imagined it was only the Rain Guardian; even the repetitive thud appeared like something the Idiot would do. But surely after one week Gokudera should have grown used to this?

THUD!

"Ouch, jeez," the male woke up as his head collided with the hard floor. He pushed himself to sit up, his hand massaging the injured part of his head. Green eyes blinked as he looked up to the sofa bed he had been sleeping on, pushing the quilt off that had fallen on top of him.

"Finally," Xanxus commented as their eyes met, "It's been a week, yet I'm already fucking sick of waking you up every morning."

"Kicking me out of bed to wake me up?" Gokudera growled, "Why the hell d'you have to wake up so early?"

"Because I feel like it," Came his angry reply response as the Varia crawled off the bed and started to walk to the door to the room, tripping over Gokudera's quilt in the process, "I want that fucking thing off the floor by the time I've finished breakfast!"

"Hey, aren't you going to help me look after the kittens?" the silver-haired lowered his voice as he remembered his responsibilities. The other ignored him, and shut the door behind him to leave the Storm Guardian alone in the room. "Jeez, I wish he'd fell and broken his neck," he muttered as he pulled his quilt over his shoulders. Unlike the other who slept in his clothes, Gokudera preferred to wear a plain top with his trousers.

"Morning," he whispered as he approached the box. Inside, the kittens were having their own breakfast, giving Gokudera reason to feel hungry, "Lucky," he muttered. Uri responded by looking up to him. The box, although fairly big enough for the 'grown up' version of Uri and her kittens, was already almost exploding, the sides hanging onto the main box body by a mere centimetre of cardboard.

"You'll need a new box soon," he told them, his green eyes looking sadly to the paper shreds underneath the cats. He had taken a lot of time and money to find and buy music sheets for his piano, but now they were torn up and unusable. Some were even rare ones that he was likely to never find again.

Looking down to the kittens, a small smile crept onto his lips as the kitten with a smudge mark crawled over to him. It was the only kitten to have opened its eyes, but Gokudera had read that her brothers and sisters would soon open their own eyes. "Have you finished eating? Che."

Gokudera had taken to talking to 'the little ones' as Yamamoto called them. The Vongola and Varia guardians were sent on extra missions to make up for Gokudera and Xanxus' absence, however the raven-haired Varia had spent hardly any time with the kittens as Tsuna had ordered. The silver-haired hadn't agreed with the idea of missing missions to care for the kittens, but he found it amusing to watch their growth and development over the last week.

The male pushed himself to stand up, making his way back to the bed to throw his quilt down and dress himself in his usual attire of clothing. He knew no one would walk in, otherwise he would not have done so. He used the piano as a blocker between him and the cats, although it was highly unlikely that Uri would care about what he was doing. "Right, you guys… I'm going to get some breakfast. I'll be back soon." He waved to the box, despite the fact that none of the felines would pay attention to it.

Gokudera was back in the piano room soon after eating and receiving assignments; he was prevented from going out on missions but Tsuna gave him research tasks for him to look into using his laptop and their files as his main resources. If anything else needed to be found out then another of the guardians would go out and find it themselves. Gokudera found it relaxing to research anyway; he could sit on the bed with his feet up, his laptop on his knee and a coffee at his side. It was nearing three in the afternoon when the door to the room opened. Gokudera didn't bother to look up to see who it was; his project of researching into a recent incident involving the Mafia and Police engaged his full attention as he wrote the information up into a presentation.

It was when the bag was placed beside him on the bed when he raised his head to look to the other person in the room, his green eyes giving the bag a suspicious look, "And this is…?"

"Late lunch," Xanxus replied, "I thought you'd like something to eat after all this fucking research workaholics do."

"Che," Gokudera frowned to show his dislike at being made fun of, "Is this to say sorry about this morning?"

"Don't be fucking stupid," The raven-haired scoffed, "I was thinking of bribing you play the piano instead of threatening you with death."

"The piano…?" The Storm Guardian's eyes slowly wandered to the musical instrument in the middle of the room, "Who _are_ you, and where's Xanxus?"

"Very funny," The other replied by clipping Gokudera's head, "What's the point in having a piano you don't play?"

"I play it for Jyuudaime."

"But not for me?" Xanxus lifted his leg and pressed his foot into the bed on Gokudera's side, who worried more about the fact that he might leave mud on the bed then the foot being pushed aggressively into the mattress, "What's the difference between us?"

_A big difference actually,_ Gokudera thought to himself, but knew better than to say anything at all. He placed the laptop on his side near the other's foot before stood up, his bare feet pattering on the floor as he approached the piano. "Are you sure?" He asked, glancing once more to the other.

"Just fucking play already." It was all Gokudera needed to know; he nodded, sitting down on the stool and positioned his fingers.

"This will be the only time," He told Xanxus as his finger hit the first note, followed by a stream of notes that created a song. Due to the fact that his music sheets had been shredded, his playing came directly from memory although he was aware that he hit the wrong note at times. This wouldn't have bothered him too much, but there was the odd wrong note that sounded so out of place that even Yamamoto would have known Gokudera had messed up.

"Stop, I can't fucking listen to that crap," Xanxus had begun to walk to the door before Gokudera had managed to play for five minutes.

"I can't help it!" He told him in his defence, "I've got nothing to play from. I'm playing this from what I remember." He was glared at Xanxus as he left the room, resisting the urge to hurl a bunch of insults and dynamites at the closed door. A small meow came from the box, almost pacifying his murderous intentions for later that day. "I'll just cut him into a million pieces and bury him in my mind," he told himself, making his way over to the kittens to watch them. _Doesn't he care?_ He wondered, watching two of the kittens cuddle up to their mother. He sighed, moving to lie down on the floor. He used one of the open sides to watch the kittens as he used his arm as a headrest, unaware that he'd soon fall asleep.

Once more, the feeling of something striking his back entered his dream, yet this time the silver-haired woke up at the first touch; his mind had grown used to the idea that this was generally a wake up call. The hard floor had caused his back to ache, and he only managed to push himself onto the back to look up to the one standing beside him. _Xanxus…_

"What are you doing down there?" The Varia asked.

"Sleeping…" Came Gokudera's weary response, followed closely by a yawn.

"Get the fuck up," The other male threw a small booklet onto his face and made his way to sit on the sofa bed. Gokudera murmured to himself before finding the energy to lift the booklet up and stare at the cover. _Piano sheet music…? _

"Are you going to fucking play or not?" Xanxus' demanding voice forced Gokudera to roll over and crawl to his feet before slowly making his way to sit on the piano stool to allow his back to adjust.

"Where'd you get this?"

"They were selling it, so I brought it. It's not like I fucking killed for it. Anyway," He turned his side to the side, avoiding the other's glance, "Just play. That's what you use it for." The silver-haired had looked back to the booklet and flipped through it, finding a simple tune to play. He set the booklet out on the right pages, and allowed his fingers to flow across the right notes. It was one he'd learned to play while he was a child, but it was also a tune that he had never been able to finish without a booklet or music sheet to aid him; the last notes had always escaped his mind and he'd find himself not knowing which note was next. The tune itself took him five minutes to play, and when he had finished he looked instinctively over to the other male; when he played for his beloved boss he'd often look to him for his reaction as a sign of how well he played. Xanxus was difficult for him to read. His face expression had remained unchanged, and he was unsure of whether his sitting position was of boredom or not.

"Did I do badly?"

"I've heard worse," Xanxus replied, standing up, "But it'll do. Dinner'll be ready soon… we should go." Gokudera blinked at the other's words; hostility had almost been lost and the mention of 'we' almost took him unawares. For Xanxus, it was always about him.

"Maybe I should play regularly for the kittens?" The silver-haired spoke his thoughts out loud, "And I could invite Jyuudaime."

"No. And don't you dare talk about this to the others," Xanxus spoke up, his glare and harsh tone returning, "I don't want you to be playing to them."

"Why the hell not?"

"Because your fucking playing wasn't that good," The raven-haired walked out of the room before Gokudera had time to attack him, ignoring the abusive words that followed. Gokudera watched him walk down the corridor, thinking it would be best to not arrive in the dining room at the same time as him. _Don't want me to play for them…_? He frowned. "Che."

A/N

I just wanted to show how Xanxus' and Gokudera's relationship's progressing; that is the whole objective of this chapter. I'll add more humour in the next chapter, when the kittens start moving around!

Sorry for out of characterness for Xanxus… it needed to be done though.

Oh, I have been asked about Uri. Uri is in the Grown Up form… sorry, I should have said so in Chapter 1!

Oh, and I'm making Saturday my uploading day, so please look for new chapters on Saturdays!


	3. Xanxus and company

**Story title**: Kitten Troubles

**Story author**: Kenco-coffee

**Now listening to**: Don't Mess With Me - Temposhark

**Anime / Manga**: Katekyo Hitman Reborn

**Disclaimer**: I do not own this anime, or the characters. The only thing I own is the story I wrote myself based on this anime.

**A little warning**: Yaoi. Boy Love. You get the idea. X59 , BesterUri. Xanxus may be a little OOC near the end.

This is 6 weeks since the birth.

The male frowned as he realised he was half-asleep. He knew he was awake, he could control his dreams at will, although who'd want to change their dream of taking over the world with their grand master plan? Yet his eyes refused to open, his arms refused to move and his mouth refused to make a sound. _Come on! Get up!_ He willed himself, eventually managing to move an arm. He judged by the side he was sleeping on that in front of him slept the _damned _Vongola Storm Guardian. Now, being able to move his arm, he pushed forward in an attempt to wake the other up as he had done for the past four weeks yet paused and held his hand in mid air as he felt nothing. Letting his arm drop onto the bed, he opened one eye to find that the other side of the bed was already tidy; the quilt was flat so that no creases were visible, the pillow sitting perfectly at the top. Confused – although his facial expressions didn't change – Xanxus rolled over the empty side to look at the alarm clock, not caring when creases began to show in the quilt.

"What the hell?" He growled. The time showed that it was the general time that Xanxus always woke up, the time that he always managed to push Gokudera out the bed at. A meow caught his attention, and he glanced over to the pets. Gokudera had since brought a bigger and more comfy cat bed for them all when the cardboard box had completely broken, and the kittens seemed to be happier with their plush bedding then they were with the sheets of music that they mercilessly clawed at and destroyed.

"Trouble makers," Xanxus greeted them as he walked back to the bed to dress himself in a shirt and trousers. He fumbled with his tie as the door opened. He turned to glare at whoever had dared walk in before he had made himself presentable, stopping momentarily as he realised it was only the one he was sharing the room with. "Where the hell were you?"

Gokudera didn't reply instantly as he placed a bowl of canned kitten food by the bed, watching as four of the kittens jumped off the bed to investigate. He noticed as Uri tried to move, but stopped her, "This is just for the little ones," he told her. The four kittens took a nibble each of the food, and each took a liking to it.

"Why's that one not leaving the bed too?" Xanxus had moved so that he was now stood behind Gokudera, his arms folded across his chest as he watched the felines along with the other.

"He prefers to stay with his mother most of the time," Gokudera gave a suggestion as he pushed himself back up to stand; after spending so much time with them he'd managed to identify each of the kittens' individual personalities. "They should be-"

"Yeah? Wonderful. Whatever." The Varia boss began to comb his hair with his hand, losing interest already. As far as he was concerned, the lives of the kittens didn't matter to him. He wasn't their father, his animal didn't give birth to them and he certainly wasn't their granddad as Tsuna had put it.

"Well, you'll discover more about them today won't you?" Gokudera looked at him with a smirk upon his lips, "After all, you agreed that today, I would be able to go out on a mission!" He chuckled at this, then lost his smug grin as he noticed his side of the bed had been completely messed up.

"I agreed to that?" Xanxus glared at him as he went to set his bed straight again, "I don't remember. Are you sure you weren't talking to somebody else?"

"We agreed! Because I haven't been able to get outside much because I'm always stuck in here, you agreed. Jyuudaime was there too, so don't pull this 'I don't remember' crap on me. Hey, are you even listening?"

Xanxus had turned his attention to the kitten with stripes along its body and happened to resemble Bester more than the other kittens. The particular kitten had left its siblings and ran across to hide underneath the table. It was then that Xanxus followed the kitten's line of sight, and decided not to tell Gokudera that the kitten was hunting the undone lace on his shoe.

"Yeah. I heard. You decided to stay here after all?"

"Don't fucking mess with me!" Gokudera took one step nearer threateningly towards Xanxus, causing the lace on his shoe to move. The kitten's interest grew.

"Why do I have to stay here? How do you know the kittens aren't really on my side?" He questioned, deciding to try and encourage the kitten to pounce on its prey. All he needed was a reason for Gokudera to move his foot once more. "You missed a crease," he gestured to the bed.

As predicted, the Vongola Guardian turned to glance at the bed, moving his foot as he did so. The kitten leapt forward, afraid it would lose sight of the lace, and pounced on it, holding the middle in between its paws and chewing on the tip.

"Hey, stop that," Gokudera looked down to the kitten, resisting the urge to shake his foot to throw it off. Not only would it encourage the kitten, but he was afraid he'd accidentally harm it.

"Hey, stay there. You may have the rest of the kittens joining in soon," Xanxus had made his way to the door in the commotion, opening the door and made sure that the kitten with the smudge mark above his nose didn't follow him, "We'll talk more about your supposed mission when I get back."

"Get back here now then!" Gokudera growled, glancing at the kittens and counted them to make sure they weren't planning on following the striped kitten's example. _One… two… three…_ He frowned when he noticed the two kittens who looked like each other's mirror were missing. He carefully put his foot down, making sure he didn't harm the striped kitten, to look for them. As soon as his foot hit the ground, the two missing kittens pounced, attacking the tip of the shoe.

The Vongola Storm had been allowed to go on his mission by Xanxus on two conditions. One was that he would be back by the time he had estimated; Gokudera had said he guessed that he would be back around six o'clock that evening and so Xanxus made that his deadline and ignored the complains of extending it in case he was a minute late. The second condition was that Gokudera had to make dinner. The rest of the Vongola and Varia were on busy missions that day, or were taking a day at home, and so none would be around to make dinner.  
"Therefore, it's your job!" Xanxus had informed him, "Break even one of those conditions and I swear I'll break your fucking neck if you try to go on another mission."

In return Gokudera had left him with verbal instructions on how to look after the kittens without harming them or yelling at them, "Don't feed them before 5 o'clock. The toys are in that box. And don't let them jump on my side of the bed. If I find even one hair you can be sure that I'll destroy you!" After this exchanging of words, Gokudera had left.

At first Xanxus had considered getting up and just leaving the cats to it and to return just thirty minutes before Gokudera was due back – he'd never know after all – until the striped kitten pounced on the cat teaser in the middle of the room. He tiptoed across the room to pick up the handle of the cat teaser, pulling it nearer to him. The kitten instantly followed and tried to grab it and meowed at it. The meow caught the attention of the smudged kitten, who came over to help its brother in catching its prey.  
"I don't fucking get it," Xanxus huffed as he moved the teaser to the left, "Just what is so interesting about this?" He let the handle drop onto the floor. Now that their prey had 'died' the kittens had lost interest in the teaser, and the striped kitten decided that nibbling the smudged kitten's ear and picking a fight was a much better idea then staring at the 'dead' thing. Smudge meowed in protest and turned return the attack.

Xanxus left the kittens to their fight and picked up Gokudera's laptop, deciding that guessing his password would be more fun that doing nothing. Unsurprisingly, the laptop didn't take long to boot up. It was new and updated – Gokudera always made sure he had the best – although Xanxus guessed that if he got annoyed while trying to guess the password it wouldn't do much afterwards. He typed in Jyuudaime first, followed by Vongola, surprised to see that both were rejected.

"What the hell?" He typed in Uri, which was also rejected. He tried each of the Vongola guardian's names, just in case the Storm had a creepy obsession with one of them yet they were all rejected. He frowned, and clicked on the hint to see what it was. 'I guess by clicking this you're trying to hack me?' Well, that wasn't helpful at all. Rather it made Xanxus feel that Gokudera was somehow watching his every move by the laptop. The Varia boss pushed the lid down and pulled the charger from the plug on the side before sliding the laptop underneath the sofa bed. Stripey followed after it to see if it were attackable before running back out five seconds later to find the mirror 'twin' kittens. He looked for the other two kittens to make sure he knew where they were, counting the striped-tail kitten still with Uri and Smudge, who had now climbed onto Xanxus' side of the bed.

"I'd stay on that side, other wise your grandma will 'kill' me," he told the kitten who appeared to take no notice as he advanced towards Gokudera's side of the bed. "I said stay," Xanxus tried to stop the kitten by using his hand as a barrier, but Smudge simply climbed over his hand, his small claws scratching his skin. The raven-haired took his hand back sat in the middle of Gokudera's bed, refusing to let the kitten on Gokudera's side of the bed until he realised what he was actually doing. He didn't really care, did he? He certainly didn't care whether his shoes left a mark or not on Gokudera's clean bed.

He uncrossed his legs and adjusted his position so that he was laying down on Gokudera's side of the bed, deliberately using his feet to create creases. "Come on, you can come over here too," He encouraged Smudge. The kitten hesitated for a moment at the change of orders, but soon joined him, curling up at his side to rest. "I don't plan on staying here long," Xanxus warned him as he let his head rest against Gokudera's pillow. The other's scent made him object to using his pillow, and he leaned across to drag it own pillow across, swapping the two over, disturbing Smudge lightly, but the kitten stayed by his side. "Shall I just throw this on the floor? Teach him a lesson?" Xanxus asked the kitten, showing it Gokudera's pillow. Smudge sniffed the part nearest to him, then leaned up to nuzzle the pillow until it was taken away by the Varia boss.

"Don't do that," He told him, wrapping his arms around the pillow and holding it close to his chest possessively, completely forgetting his idea to throw it on the floor. It was the silver-haired male's scent upon the soft fabric that made him keep it in his arms, although he would never admit to that. Nor would he admit that he almost missed having him around. At least when Gokudera was around he had something to yell at or to insult. The last thing Xanxus remembered before he fell asleep was what he would say to Gokudera when he returned.

When Xanxus woke up, he was aware of something moving his hair. It felt calming in a way at first; the feel of gentle strokes messing up his dark hair. Then the thing pulled at his hair in small clumps. Annoyed at being attacked, the male sat up and raised his hand to return the favour tenfold to whoever it was, his fist hitting air as it went forward. A moment of confusion passed through his mind before he looked down.

"Ugh, you," he glared down at the striped kitten, "What do you want?" He didn't expect an answer, yet he watched as the kitten directed his attention to the alarm clock. The time, which happened to be about 7:30pm, meant nothing to him as he stood up and checked up on the kittens, counting them all. "See? They're all freakin' safe!" He growled, "Heh, and that trash thought I…" He stopped, and looked around the room, his tummy rumbling in hunger. "Che. I thought that bastard was making dinner tonight? Where the hell is he? I'll kill him when I see him!" Xanxus made his way out the room, mentally telling himself that if Gokudera had an objection to leaving the felines alone that he'd kill him for not making dinner, and then kill him again for daring to argue.

He walked into the empty Vongola kitchen and searched the nearest cupboard for something to eat, selecting a cup of instant noodles and doing as the instructions said. He rarely cooked as it was, and he wasn't prepared to improve his skills to cook for other people. As he reached for the drawer for a pair of chopsticks, the piece of paper on the side caught his attention. The Vongola had a habit of setting up timetables of what its guardians were doing on certain days, to help them know where each other was supposed to be. Xanxus ran his eyes along Gokudera's name, and then his line of work for the time being. All of the spaces were taken by 'Cat-sitting' except for one; 'mission out'. The microwave bleeped at him as he remembered that his roommate was supposed to have been home by now.

"Damn, he's far too late!" The curfew was also remembered, "How dare he. I'll fucking break his legs so that he can't leave again for a month!" He retrieved his noodles from the microwave and then left them on the side, placing the chopsticks next to them as he prepared to leave the kitchen. As he stepped out onto the corridor, the echo of a door closing reached his ears, coming from the direction of the piano room. He yelled an 'Oi' down the corridor before walking down to the piano room. He didn't wait or hesitate before opening the door and walking in; even if it was an armed intruder, Xanxus knew that Uri could protect herself and her kittens without his help. The scariest creature on earth was a mother with her babies. He had heard something along those lines somewhere before.

Luckily, it wasn't an intruder.

"You weren't in here with them." The words came quietly to him from the silver-haired male sat beside the cat bed. His clothes were damp and his head was hidden mainly by a towel.

"You were late," Came his reply as Xanxus knelt beside him, "I'm hungry. And my noodles are going cold now. Thanks to you, bastard."

"I was busy choosing what to have for dinner in the supermarket. I knew you'd be picky about whatever I'd make."

"So you came back empty handed, in the fucking rain?"

"And what if I did?"

"Fucking bastard."

Gokudera sighed; there was no real comeback for that except to simply start an argument. He was tired due to the mission, and was in no mood to cause a commotion just before he could finally rest. The Vongola began to move a hand up to dry his hair as a tear of water fell from his hair down his face, making him shudder as the cold liquid ran down his neck.

"Let go, I've already go it, bastard," the raven-haired batted his hand back down as he placed his own hands onto top of the towel and began to rub.

"Ah, not so hard. You'll catch my earrings," Gokudera warned, not to mention it hurt his head a little. He didn't expect Xanxus to take any notice, yet the Varia boss let his actions become calmer, yet making sure he'll still have an effect on drying and messing up his silver hair as much as possible.

"Like that?"

"Yes." The Vongola Storm let his mind wander as the other dried his hair, his attitude towards him changing slightly. Over the past six weeks, he had noticed that Xanxus had his good sides to him, although he'd never say that out loud. If he embarrassed him, Xanxus would shoot him on the spot. But, like this, he was gentle. Ouch. No, wait. That hurt. "What are you doing?"

"Pulling your hair. Hard. Because I've finished. Now fucking brush your hair. It looks like trash!" Xanxus stood up, taking the towel with him to throw it on Gokudera's face, thus reverting Gokudera's way of thinking back to how it had been initially.

"Damn you!" Gokudera growled as Xanxus climbed onto his side of the bed, kicking off his shoes, and pointed to Gokudera's side.

"I forgot to mention. The smudge kitten got on your side."

"I bet you didn't even try to stop him did you? Thanks a lot," Gokudera walked around the piano to his side of the bed, sitting on his side with his back to Xanxus, "I should have known better than to leave you here. You didn't follow orders."

"Because I don't have to follow your orders," Xanxus retorted, "There's a pecking order, remember? I do believe you're on a lower level than mine. So fucking shut up! Bastard."

"Fucking moron."

"Trash."

Gokudera let his towel drop onto the floor in silence, kicking off his own shoes and removing his tie and jacket. "By the way, as punishment for being so late you're to stay in this room all day tomorrow," Xanxus mumbled from the bed.

"Really? I don't think so. You're not going out all day and leaving this work to me.

"I didn't say I'd be out, bastard," Xanxus growled, "We'll both be in here, stupid. I'm going to watch you and listen to you carefully."

"W-why?" Gokudera turned his head to look at him, his cheeks beginning to grow in warmth. He nuzzled the side of his shoulder, trying to purposely hide the blush.

"Simple. So I can see if I can find any hints that will help me find out your laptop password. It was boring today. Your fucking laptop's hint is stupid!"

"Your not even supposed to hack into _my _laptop!" Gokudera punched down, missing as Xanxus moved his body out the way to dodge the attack. "Forget it!" He pulled the quilt over himself and laid down to sleep, resting his head on his pillow.

"Oi."

"What is it, Trash?"  
"Did you sleep on my side of the bed or something?"

"Fuck no. Why?"

"… My pillow has your scent. How fucking annoying."

**A/N**: Sorry, for this update being so late. I have no real good excuse. Thank you for being patient.

Sorry, that the week in the fanfic has gone by so quickly between the two chapters. I gave the kitten book back to my friend and now I'm using the internet as material, however each website has varying times so I can't guarantee accuracy now.

Sorry, it may not have been as good as you think. It's been a long time since I wrote anything, and so my writing's a little rusty. Plus I was running out of ideas. Suggestions please?

I hope you enjoyed this instalment, despite all this. Please, comment and review.


	4. The Way of Dreams

**Story title:** Kitten Troubles

**Story author:** Kenco-Coffee

**Now listening to**: Brit-Pop and Rock Mix

**Anime / Manga**: Katekyo Hitman Reborn

**Disclaimer:** I do not own this anime, or the characters. The only thing I own is the story I wrote myself based on this anime.

**A little warning**: Okay, maybe a major warning. This is my own creation of what may have happened in the past of Reborn. It is not true (yet, but one wonders the what if) and as such, if you dislike people altering the past of anime characters even just a little, I advise you skip this chapter.

Xanxus was dreaming. Currently his dream self was travelling through Italy in a black car. He guessed either himself or his fellow passenger had opened a window to let in the summer air, allowing him to watch the world pass by, the colours no longer being shut out by tinted windows. It seemed peaceful compared to the somewhat busy lifestyle Xanxus led, and it wasn't long before his daily thoughts entered his dream mind. The sudden thought of an assassin crossed his mind, and he leaned forward in his seat so that he could easily duck if a bullet got in through the open window. A chuckle caught his attention, his head looking up to the seat next to him. Only then did he realise who the fellow passenger was.

"Why so fidgety?" The Ninth Vongola Boss asked him with his gentle smile, seemingly amused as Xanxus shuffled away from him and sat as close to the car door as he could, unamused at the question. "Don't tell me you're worried about meeting this family? You won't be attending the actual business meeting, you know that."

"Meeting? What the hell are you talking about?"

"You know a sixteen year old shouldn't say those words," The Ninth avoided the question to mentor the raven-haired male, and Xanxus' mind found the situation less confusing now that he could place a time to this scene. Although he couldn't place an exact date, he took a guess that his actual sixteen self still believed he was actually this _old git's_ son. He then realised the Ninth hadn't stopped talking "-and what if their son heard you use words and decided to copy you. You need to be a good role model."

"And how old does this br- I mean, kid happen to be?" Xanxus watched as the older male sighed in an exhausted manner.

"I told you this yesterday. He's only six years old. Is there anything else you didn't listen to?"

"No, I got it," Xanxus returned his attention to the view outside the window, beginning to wonder when he'd wake up. He wasn't enjoying this dream at all.

Xanxus had almost fallen asleep in his dream when the car pulled up outside a castle. His eyes studied the outside: the flowers growing around the front of the castle were all a colour of deep red, which he would have thought would have been quite fitting if he had known who the occupier of the property was; The pebble drive way for the cars which had evidently been raked into place as not a single stone appeared on the circle of grass in the middle, just on the side of the car; The windows glistened in the sunlight without a smear or smudge on them. The staff had certainly been kept busy that morning.

He opened the car door and stepped out, shutting the door behind him before walking around the back to stand at the Ninth's side.

"Remember. Your best behaviour." The Ninth told him as the butler bowed and greeted them. Xanxus only half-listened as the butler invited them inside the house, his interest being more in taking in the sights around him and the melody playing distantly in the background. It was a soft tune being played on a piano, adding to the peaceful atmosphere the dream had created.

"Our Master has organised lunch to be ready in about fifteen minutes, are you both alright with that timing?" The butler spoke, and the Ninth opened his mouth to reply but Xanxus rudely broke in.  
"Who's playing the piano?"

"The Young Master," The butler replied, "He occasionally plays at parties, but they are often more 'out of the world' then the soft melodies he plays at home."

"Maybe you should go and greet the young pianist?" The Ninth suggested, giving Xanxus' shoulder an encouraging pat. The raven-haired instantly took two steps away from him to avoid any more physical contact, his eyes glaring at him. "I have to greet my friend anyway, so you will be alone for a moment. Exploring seems like the best idea. Would you mind telling him how to get to the pianist's room?"

"Certainly. If Sir goes down this corridor until he reaches the end and turns left into the conservatory, he'll find the Young Master there."

Xanxus opened his mouth to object to this idea, the look that the Ninth gave him was evident enough that there was no need for Xanxus to follow him around the castle. "I'll join you at lunch time?" He asked, and received a nod from the butler.

"The Young Master will be eating lunch with you, so he'll show you the way."

"Alright. Later," he walked past the butler, following his directions to walk down the corridor, which was almost empty except for the maid carrying linen around. She stopped walking once she saw Xanxus, and pressed her back against the wall to make room for him as she saw he was not going to move from the middle of the corridor.

The sound of the piano grew louder as Xanxus approached the end of the corridor, and turned left. The conservatory was warm from the sunlight: the doors leading to the back garden were wide open to let the air in. Through the windows, Xanxus noticed that the back garden had more colours and more varieties of flowers than that compared to the front of the house. Not that he cared about what the garden looked like. Trees stood at the sides of the garden, full of flowers and leaves. He looked from tree to tree, stopping when he noticed a small box nailed to the side of one of the trees. It was evident to see what it was, but the quality was not what he had expected to find.

"Is that really a bird house?" He asked, noticing then that the music had stopped after his comment.

"Yes. I made it." Xanxus's gaze followed the sound of the voice, settling upon the sight of a familiar-looking small boy sat at the piano. His clothes were typically what he expected from a family living in a castle: a small suit kept clean and tidy, his silver hair perfectly framing the face containing two eyes that watched the newcomer with curiosity. The only thing not perfect about his appearance was the bandage on his knee. "Is there a problem with my bird house?"

"Do any birds live there?"

"Yes," The small boy nodded enthusiastically, a bright smile stretching across his face, "A family of birds live inside it."

"Then there's no problem with it." Xanxus walked over to the piano, noticing that the instrument looked too familiar. He put it down to the piano being a similar or even the same model as the one he was currently thinking of.

"Do you like the piano?" Xanxus' attention returned once more to the boy, who had lost his smile and had taken on his curious gaze once more.

"Not really. I don't play any sort of instrument though," he told him, "Do you like the piano?" He asked, knowing what the answer would be regardless.

"Yes. I love it!" He laughed cheerfully, "Can I play a song for you? I haven't yet had anybody listen to this one."  
"So long as I can still talk in between." The boy nodded and took this as his cue to begin. He flipped his book of sheet music to the right page and set it in front of him, placing his fingers in position before beginning to play. Xanxus looked around for a seat to sit down while he listened yet decided to sit next to the boy's stool once he saw that the seats were on the other side of the room. A minute had passed before Xanxus' next question came. He wouldn't say it was down to boredom but rather due to the few mistakes that were being made. But he decided not to comment upon them, as the boy was still young.

"Do you want to be a pianist when you're older?"

"I'd… love to," The boy paused, finding the right note and continued his song, sighing as he struggled to find the next note and stopped his playing. "But I'm not very good right now."

"Practise," Xanxus suggested, "Or, if you really can't be better, aim for something else."

"Such as what?" The boy's full interest was now on Xanxus and, what he thought it seemed to be, the beginning of information and advice he could use.

"Well, you could be in the Mafia? After all, isn't your father in the Mafia?" He watched as the smile fade from the boy's face, wondering for a moment if he had said the wrong thing. He didn't want to explain to the butler how he had managed to upset the Young Master with one sentence.

"But I don't even know how to fight." Came the unexpected reply, and Xanxus couldn't help but chuckle. To him, he found it almost impossible to imagine that the son of a Mafioso did not know how to fight.

"Then I suggest you find something to learn," he told him, "Find someone who knows how to fight and ask them to tutor you. I'm sure you'll find someone here to help you."

"But-"

"No buts. And when you've become a real fighter, I'll let you into my Mafia!" Xanxus' mood picked up.

"You have a Mafia?" The boy's mouth opened in surprise and admiration.

"Not yet. But I will be a boss one day, to a powerful Mafia!"

"You wouldn't hire scary people would you?"

"Why would you be scared? You'd be just as strong and feared as they are! And you wouldn't need to worry that much either. I'd protect you," Xanxus told him with eagerness. He'd only managed to find few people he deemed worthy to join his own family and, although he didn't look for any special abilities, the boy before him was still young and had plenty of time to develop his own fighting style.

"Do you promise?" The boy asked him, checking a nearby clock as he listened to the other's answer and climbed off his piano stool.

"I do, and where are you going?" Xanxus asked, a little annoyed that their conversation was being interrupted.

"Lunch should be ready now so we should go," He replied, turning to Xanxus, "You are eating with us aren't you?"

"Of course. My old man's here to visit your father after all."

"Oh? So if all goes well, you'll come and visit again soon?" The boy beamed at the idea of having someone new to see him on a regular basis; "It gets lonely here…"

"I'm not surprised. This big castle… with only your piano to talk to." Xanxus spoke, beginning to follow behind the boy's skips down the corridor.

The boy nodded in reply, his smile never disappearing, "Oh, what's your name? I can't call you 'You' all the time."

"Xanxus. And you?" The boy's mouth opened and made speaking movements, yet no sound came out. "Pardon?" Xanxus asked, watching the boy's lips form the same shapes as before yet still the sounds refused to leave. Then, the corridor shattered like glass and dropped to the floor, leaving nothing but darkness around him. And then something hit his face.

"Wake up, bastard!" One angry silver-haired male repeated his action of hitting his roommate with his pillow. Once again he had been kicked out of bed, but this time he guessed it was unintentional; Xanxus only kicked him out of bed to wake up, never at four in the morning. He was also unaware of the fact that he had successfully woken up Uri and her kittens, and decided that it was now time for Xanxus to wake up and get on with the day anyway. "Wake up!" He brought the pillow down again, this time finding that it refused to be pulled back up.

"Hit me again with that thing and I shall show you the meaning of 'enough room to swing a Gokudera around'." Xanxus groaned and shoved the pillow back into Gokudera's face before letting go of it.

"Sorry, did I spoil your beauty sleep"

"I was actually having a good dream." Xanxus spat, sitting up in his bed as the silver-haired male leaned forward to pick up his t-shirt from the floor and pulled it over his head.

"Oh?"

"Yes. I was ruling the world as king. And you, my _dear _piece of trash. You were nothing more than my eternal slave," The raven-haired lied, laughing evilly, just for effect. Gokudera knew better, now, than to take the bait and shout back with something just as insulting. Annoyed at being ignored, Xanxus decided to continue to talk, "Do you remember the song you played for me on the piano weeks ago?"

"Let's see," Gokudera's mind ran through the possible questions that would be asked of him, determined to answer them now, "No, I haven't played to anybody else. No, I won't play for you now."

"Shut up and let me finish," Xanxus huffed, "I just want to know when you first tried to play it to somebody else."

"What a peculiar question to ask."

"What's the fucking answer?"

A sigh left the silver-haired's lips as he tried to think, soon coming with his answer a few seconds later, "I was six years old at the time."

**A/N:** I described the 'mansion' as a castle, because it's always called a castle. However, I imagine it to be more of a mansion. But I thought I'd keep to that fact rather than change it any further. Plus, my imagined Gokudera is younger than being the age that he started to learn to fight. I'm not even sure how old he was when he started to learn from Shamal but I imagine he was older than the dream-Gokudera.

To clear something up – Dream Xanxus is not aware that this is Gokudera. He's merely looking back on a forgotten memory, and is able to say or do what he wants. Therefore, he does not remember the future. I hope that makes sense.

The rest of my fanfic will not be based of this dream. I just put this in because I wanted to write an early meeting between Gokudera and Xanxus yet I didn't want to make it as a one-shot. If enough people are interested enough for me to have another chapter about this, or something, than maybe I will bring it up again. But for now, I have no plans.

Chapter plans: Uri point of view, Introducing Bester.


	5. Getting to Know You

**Story title:** Kitten Troubles

**Story author**: Kenco-Coffee

**Chapter Title: **Getting to Know You

**Anime / Manga**: Katekyo Hitman Reborn

**Disclaimer:** I do not own this anime, or the characters.

**A little warning:** Bester x Uri; Xanxus x Gokudera

It had been a week since Gokudera's first, and only, mission since the arrival of the kittens. That did not mean it had been his only time out of the base. He had the pleasure of taking the kittens to the vets a few days prior, alone. Xanxus was _supposed_ to have gone with him, as the partner grandparent the kittens viewed him as, however something for the Varia had come up, and Gokudera knew only too well how much their careers could get in the way of an ordinary life. And so, he had let him get to work without much of a fuss, and allowed himself to simply chew him out to the kittens in the car on the way to the vets.

The kittens did not understand the order to be on their best behaviour. As expected, the Runt was quiet and well-behaved, but the remaining four made the veterinary's job as difficult as possible. Gokudera felt ridiculous for apologizing for something out of his control while Smudge decided that, no, it would not stay still on the table for a check up.

The visit to the vets revealed that the kittens were healthy; "They definitely are well cared for," the vet had commented, and what the genders were. Gokudera had suspected that the boisterous Stripey was a male, leading his siblings around like the king of a pride at a young age, and this was confirmed that he was correct. The Runt and Right Twin were also male, and Smudge and Left Twin were female. It was almost an equal split. The discovery of the genders was the conversation of the headquarters for the next few days up to the week since Gokudera's mission, when Yamamoto decided to drop a new comment.

"You know how children should have both of their parents around? Well, why haven't you brought Bester out yet?" He asked Xanxus. Stupid baseball idiot and his stupid ideas that got Gokudera into stupid situations.

The plan was put into action that same afternoon; "Strike while the iron's hot!" Yamamoto told them both. Easy for him to say – the Rain Guardian was leaving early for the day to visit his father. He wouldn't be the one who, now not only had one angry and deadly Varia Boss to watch out for, but now his pet too. And Gokudera knew that pets were like their owners all too much.

The Storm Guardian took up a protective stance by the family as Xanxus called Bester out of his box. For one who made Uri a mother, he seemed disinterested in Uri and her kittens, and found Gokudera's side of the bed a suitable place to curl up.

"We might as well put him back," Gokudera spoke, doing his best to hide just how annoyed he was that his bed was now going to smell of lion while he slept.

"Do you know much about lions?" Xanxus asked. Gokudera shook his head. "You must know that they live in prides? You do? Great. Well, the male leader of a pride will often sleep, and not do any work. The females bring home the bacon and look after the children. This behaviour was to be expected."

"That doesn't mean we should keep him out. If h—"

"Be quiet, Trash," Xanxus told him, pointing a finger towards a couple of daring kittens approaching their father. Gokudera, surprised that Xanxus was taking notice of what was happening, obeyed and watched protectively. Stripey led Phil and Lil – Yamamoto had renamed the twin kittens – towards the white lion, ignoring the growled warning from Uri. Xanxus hadn't gotten round to telling Bester that leaving his lion hanging off the edge of anything and swinging it was a bad idea. Stripey batted the tail, joined by Phil who saw that this was a fun game. Gokudera counted to three in his head. _One. Two. Thr-._

Bester curled his tail up to his side and growled his own warning to the kittens. Unlike Uri's growl, which had been quiet, and didn't hold any harshness, Bester's growl was a clear threat. Phil mewed in panic and darted off to hide with his mother. Lil, braver than her brother, had jumped up onto the bed to join her father. Gokudera wondered if Lil had a rain attribute to her, as Bester seemed to remain calm as the kitten walked around and over his paws as if inspecting him. Or Bester simply didn't mind being looked at.

Stripey had jumped up onto the bed, not to be outdone by his sister, and had decided to try to attack his father's tail once again. Uri, watching over just as protectively as her master, had her own intuition and knowing of what would happen, and called for Lil to come over. Lil mewed a reply, standing on her hind legs as she placed a kiss on her father's head before running off to her mother. With the supposed-rain kitten gone, Bester's bad mood returned, and Stripey received the loudest growl he'd heard from either parent.

"Maybe this was a bad idea," Gokudera couldn't help but speak his worry aloud. All of the kittens were by their mother now, and he couldn't see how the not so brave Smudge and Runt would go and greet Bester now, after witnessing how Phil and Stripey had been scared off. Uri, seemingly sensing how worried her master was, held Phil and Stripey back as she nudged Lil to her father with her nose now. Lil mewed, confused at the change of orders, not understanding that it was her brothers that had annoyed Bester. Uri licked her head, as though assuring her that it as safe, and that she'd hold back her brothers so she could remain safe. Lil turned to Runt and Smudge, who tried to retreat. Smudge was successful, and found shelter over by Gokudera's legs from Lil rather than Uri, but the Runt was batted and chased towards the bed.

Lil jumped onto the bed next to Bester once more, turning to look down at Runt to encourage him to jump up. Runt lacked a 'fight or flight' behaviour, instead remaining firmly rooted to the spot. Lil mewed, probably calling him a name, before Bester moved. The white lion moved forward, picking up Runt by the scruff of his neck and placed him on the bed besides Lil. Gokudera winced as Runt's mews suggested that Bester may have hurt him, doubting Xaxnus' pet had ever picked up a cub, no, kitten, before.

Runt trembled as his father looked him over, his eyes watching warily. Lil 'said' something to her little brother, and each human was surprised as Runt seemed to gather the courage to nuzzle his head against Bester's. Bester didn't seem to mind this attention either, and he watched with new-growing interest as Lil and Runt curled up against him.

Then Stripey appeared at the bottom of the bed, having escaped his mother. Bester growled his previous warning at him again, and then turned his attention to the kittens next to him. Runt had begun trembling again at the growl. Lil tried to calm her brother, but it wasn't until Bester had placed a paw upon Runt that he seemed to relax once more. Turning his head back to Stripey, Bester was taken aback at how quickly Uri had moved at the bed from the cat bed. The female flattened her ears against her head and lowered her head, simply not wishing to pick a fight. Bester moved forward, and nuzzled his chin against the top of her head.

"I feel like we're now watching a trashy romance film," Xanxus spoke, breaking Gokudera from his daze of simply watching the family. The silver-haired looked down as Smudge jumped over his foot to join the rest of the family, "Jeez. That settles it. You're trash. You had a fucking smile going on while you were watching them."

"Don't call me trash!" Gokudera snapped back, trying not to be too loud to disturb the felines, "Didn't you find th—"

"Don't say 'heart-warning', for the love of fucking anything."

"Heart-warming." Anything to defy Xanxus.

"Be quiet, before I decide to fucking shoot you. You should be thankful I haven't already done something about your trashy attitude."

"Thrilled. Thank you, oh kind and generous one," Gokudera mumbled, checking the watch upon his wrist. "I need to go and get them something to eat from the kitchen. I was thinking something other than their usual, seeing as it's a special occasion."

"So you think it's okay to leave me with them? How about you stay with them, and I go and find the nearest bar? I need a shot, or two."

"Oh, hell no!"

"Then why don't we both go?" Xanxus suggested.

Gokudera looked appalled. "B-but! What if-?"

"Look at them. Uri and Bester are relaxed and calm. The kittens haven't caused Kitty War One," Xanxus pointed towards them, "You're too protective. Did you know lion cubs face dangers every day, worse than Bester? Sure, some don't make it. But if they're going to make it in this world, take a step back. Let them grow."

"Wow," Gokudera blinked as he watched Xanxus push the door open to leave, "that was quite impressive. Coming from you."

"And what the fuck is that supposed to mean?"

"Your speeches will never be as amazing as Jyuudaime's!" Gokudera followed him into the corridor, and Uri watched the door shut behind them both, her attention turning as Bester nuzzled against her again.

**- X**

**A/N**

**Has anybody seen the article on DailyMail from the 21st August about the lion cub meeting its father for the first time? Too cute.**

**Right. I will apologize. I'm not very good at being a consistent author anymore. You can thank Psycho Pass for this upload. I was writing a drabble fanfiction for it, when I was on a roll, and then after reading this story again to myself... I started to want to know how it ended. So I wrote another chapter. I have plans for the next chapter after already, and I think I may only carry this on for three or more chapters before ending it. In the meantime, I'll consider typing up and uploading my Psycho Pass 'fic. **

**I must warn that I may go on hiatus again. I have a full time job, 9 to 5, and it takes me two hours just to get to work. And two hours back. So I'm out of the house and busy a lot. **

**A big thank you to those still following and reading. I appreciate how long you've waited, and I am sorry that you have had to wait. I am sorry that I have let you down. I hope that you enjoy this chapter. **

**If you leave a review, do feel free to suggest improvements in my writing. It has been a long long time since I wrote a piece of fanfiction, so I understand if there are parts I can improve upon. **


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